Peters



(No Model.) 2 SheetS-Sl1eet 1. A. PIPRE.

PORTABLE ENGINE.

No. 374,318. 7 Patented Dec 6, 1887.

J/ZJM I N. PETERS. Piwkouthngnphm Wnhir'glon, I). C.

(N0 Model 2 SheetsSheet 2.

A; PIPRE. PORTABLE ENGINE.

No. 374,318. Patented Dec. 6, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABEL PIFRE, OF PARIS, FRANCE.

PORTABLE ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374,318, dated December 6, 1887.

Application filed March 16, 1885.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ABEL PIFRE, of Paris, in the Republic of France, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Portable Engines, of which the following is a specification.

I have devised a combination of which the several details may be varied considerably, which is simple, can be operated with little care or skill, and will assure continuity of action and an automatic feeding both of the fuel and water. I give it the name of Automotor Pifre. It operates by means of a solid combustible, which may be coal, wood, charcoal, coke, or other combustible in the form of fragments approximately regular and capa ble of burning in the manner of coke.

The apparatus is composed of the following principal parts: a foundation or bed-casting,

an engine by which the force of the steam is utilized, a boiler to which the fuel is fed antomatically, a condenser in which the steam is again changed into water, an open tank in which water is aerated, and a feeding device by which the water of condensation is fed again into the boiler.

The following is a description of what I consider the best means of carrying out the invention.

The accompanying drawings form a part of j this specification.

Figure l is an elevation, partly in section, the plane of section extending through the axis of the boiler and engine. The right side of the section of the boiler in this figure shows what I will describe as the principal form. The left side of the section shows a modification. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section through the cylinder and adjacent parts on a larger scale. In Fig. 1 the piston is at the lower end of its stroke. In Fig, 2 the piston is at the upper end of its stroke. Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the device for supplying the feedwater to the boiler.

Similar letters of reference indicate corre sponding parts in all the figures where they occur. I

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, omitting the left side of boiler in Fig. 1, A is an upeffective heating surface. L tends downward fromt-he outer shell, A quite to the grate.

Serial No. 158,990. (No model.)

right cylindrical boiler. The main body of the boiler is formed of two concentric cylinders, A A the annular base of which is considerably above the grate. The inner cylinder, A, is extended up above the top of the boilerv proper. A smokefiue, A, connects this top extension with a chimney. (Not represented.) A hollow cylinder of sheet metal, A*, is mounted concentrically within the inner shell, A, extending downward from the top, as shown, and equipped with a removable cover, which is to be removed and the fuelreservoir filled with fuel at intervals. The fuel descends as the quantity below is con sumed. PeouliarlybenttubesA are mounted a in the position represented, and constitute ah A- plate, A, ex-

A casting, B, serves as a bed or foundation :1

for the boiler and also for the engine, certain portions being designated, when necessary, by additional marks, as B B. the bottom horizontal plate, B, is filled with plaster or other good non-conductor, O, to pre- A space below vent the escape of heat downward. lhe space above the plate B serves as an ash-pit. The grate E may be provided with suitable facilities for shaking or otherwise clearing away the ashes and clinkers and for allowing the remaining fuel to be removed when desired.

Means not fully represented are provided for regulating the admission of air into the ash-pit and for regulating the discharge of the gases through the flue A The exterior shell, A, of the boiler is inclosed in a casing, I, of wood or metah'orboth, with the interposition of felt or other good non-conductor to prevent the loss of heat.

The engine by which the motive power of the steam is utilized is mounted on a casing, B The main shaft U, supported in two bearings, is provided with a crank, U, fly-wheel U, and pulley U which may operate a belt through which the power is communicated to any mechanism, (not represented,) and a pulley, U, which operates a smallbclt for driving a governor, R, which performs the usual functions of controlling the-admission of steam.

A secondary crank, y, mounted on the crankpin U and properly set, operates the valvestem IV through the medium of a link, to. The valve-stem operates two slide-valves, \V and W which, by the reciprocations of the rod I, serve to put the ends of the cylinder in communication alternately with the boiler and with the exhaust-passage, as will be readily understood.

I prefer to make the principal parts of the engine of bronze.

The piston D, of bronze or other rigid material, is furnished with two slightly-flexible rings or shells, d, of Babbitt metal or other anti-friction metal, stamped or otherwise produced in the form of cup-leathers and mounted in positions reverse to each other, as shown, and held by rigid rings (1, secured by bolts (2 as shown. (See Fig. 2.) The pressure of the steam distends these packings d alternately as the pressure is received on one side or the other of the piston, and maintains a tight joint between the piston and the cylinder. The piston will work successfully without lubrication. The steam, after being worked in the cylinder, is condensed in the pipe G, which is inclosed within other pipes, F, mounted concentrically thereto, and which may extend backward and forward any required number of times to obtain a proper amount of condensing-surface. I have shown but two of the pipes, and believe that such will, for small engines in ordinary cases, be sufficient. A constant supply of cold water from the street-mains, or from an elevated reservoir, a pump, or other source, 'enters through a-pipe, H, and, after circulating through the annular space between the pipes G and F, is discharged through the pipe K, carrying away the heat abstracted from the steam. The steam reduced to water is discharged through the pipe G into a feed-reservoir, L, where it presents an agitated surface exposed to the air and absorbs so much of the latter as is necessary to allow it to serve efficiently on being again forced into the boiler.

Distilled water produced by the condensation of steam is for some reason less available for the production of steam again than ordinary water. The difference is believed to be due mainly to the presence ofa small quantity of air which pervades ordinary water, and

.will be absorbed by distilled water if air is allowed access thereto while itis cold or nearly cold. It will be more likelyto be absorbed if the surface of the water is agitated. My arrangement allows the water a chance to become partially or completely aerated before it is returned to the boiler. This is attained by causing the water to fall in a more or less constant stream from the open mouth of the pipe G into the tank L, agitating the entire contents of the tank in doing so.

My device for feeding the boiler is represented very clearly in Fig. 3. M is the body of a cock, bored conically from each end. It

carries a compound plug or key in two parts, P P, engaged together by teeth 19*, which allow the keys to be adjusted together and apart within considerable limits, while allowing the motion received through the pulley P on the key P to be efi'ectively transmitted to the other key, P. A nut, P andjam-nut P on the bolt P allow these keys to be adjusted together to compensate for wear. The pulley P is turned constantly by a round belt, 0, operated by a pulley, U carried on the main shaft U.

The keys P P are formed with channels 19, arranged asshown, and which alternately connect different ports. In one position of the keys the water of condensation received from the feed-reservoir L may flow downward through the port m, horizontally through the groove 1), and upward through the port at into the chamber N. \Vhen the keys P and P have performed a half-revolution, the water from the chamber N can flow downward through the port m farther downward through the groove or passage 1) in the key P, and thence downward and horizontally through the port m, and through a connecting-pipa-m, into the boiler. The steam to supply its place in the chamber N is received from the upper end of the boiler through the pipe Q, and flows through the passage m in the cock M, thence through the groove p in the key P", and thence upward through the passage an into the upper portion of the chamber N. From mounting this feeding apparatus at the proper level of the water in the boiler it follows that the water will flow rapidly from the chamber N into the boiler when the .waterlevel in the boiler is low; but it will flow more and more slowly when the water-level in the boiler is high. This insures a uniformity of water-level in the boiler. Any surplus water will remain in the other portions of the apparatus. Ample room for considerable surplus may be provided by a large feed-tank L.

My apparatus may have all the ordinary and suitable provisions for regulating the speed, determining the level of the water and the pressure of the steam, 8.50. It will be understood that all parts not represented may be of any ordinary or suitable character.

The boiler presents a good heating-surface in the annular bottom and in the whole inner face. It also presents a peculiarly-valuable heating-surface in the tubes A as arranged. The construction allows a large area of firegrate and a proportionate eificiency of firing.

In the modification shown on the left side of the section of the boiler in Fig. 1 the main body of the boiler is extended down to the grate. This gives a less efficiency of gratesurface by reason of its contraction of the area, but it gives greater water-capacity. The pipes shown on the left side contribute a great increase to the heating-surface.

I claim as my invention- The portable steam-engine described, havspecification in the presence of two subscrib ing the open-top tank L, surface-condenser F ing witnesses.

G connection G boiler-feeder M boiler A and bed B, in cembination with each other ABEL HERE 5 and with an engine for developing power, ar- Witnesses:

ranged for joint operation as herein specified. OREMERs,

In testimony whereof I have signed this ROBT. M. Hoornn. 

